March 25, 2009Highlights of GAO-09-342, a report to congressional requestersSince 2001, the Department of Defense’s (DOD) spending on goods and services has more than doubled to $388 billion in 2008, while the number of civilian and military acquisition personnel has remained relatively stable. To augment its in-house workforce, DOD relies heavily on contractor personnel. If it does not maintain an adequate workforce, DOD places its billion-dollar acquisitions at an increased risk of poor outcomes and vulnerability to fraud, waste, and abuse.

GAO was asked to (1) assess DOD’s ability to determine whether it has a sufficient acquisition workforce, (2) assess DOD initiatives to improve the management and oversight of its acquisition workforce, and (3) discuss practices of leading organizations that could provide insights for DOD’s acquisition workforce oversight. To do this, GAO analyzed key DOD studies, obtained data from 66 major weapon system program offices across DOD, and interviewed officials from 4 program offices. GAO also met with representatives from six companies recognized as leaders in workforce management.

What GAO RecommendsGAO is making recommendations aimed at improving DOD’s management and oversight of its acquisition workforce, including the collection of data on contractor personnel. DOD concurred with three of the recommendations and noted that implementing the other requires careful consideration.